Meet the Author

The FermentedlyChallenged blog has been retired since the end of October 2016. It has been a great 9 year run. Thanks to all the readers and brewery staff for all your support in the past. I'm living in the Denver metro area and working in the Cable TV industry now. Cheers and enjoy beer responsibly. Follow along on social media - @ChipperDave on Twitter and on Facebook.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

South of the Colorado border over in Albuquerque, New Mexico is a brewery called Marble Brewery. Recently, they've started distributing 6-packs up here in Colorado. I spotted two of their beers at my local liquor store in Greeley and picked up a single of each of them. The first review will be of the Marble Brewery Red Ale.

I'm unfamiliar with Marble Brewery and looked them up on the web (www.marblebrewery.com) and found that they offer up 7 regular beers and have produced 5 other brewers specials. This Red Ale is rated at 6.2% ABV and is one of there more potent offerings. I like how their labels make use of the image of a different colored marble for each of their beers.

Red Ale is described as being "brewed with caramel malts and balanced with a bold bright blend of Crystal, Cascade, and Simcoe hops". They call it one of their perennial favorites at the brewery.Appearance: Marble Brewery Red Ale poured a nice dark red, near mahogany color. The brew built up a nice 2 finger tall light tan head that appeared very creamy and stuck around for quite a while. Swirling the beer left a nice sticky lacing along the edges of the glass that didn't completely slide away. The beer was just slightly hazy and seemed adequately carbonated.

Aroma: Oh my! This brew has a big hoppy aroma that I could pick up across the room. Even my wife noted, "Woah I can small that beer from a long way away!" - The aroma is of a big, resiny citrus and pine brew and added a bit of sweet malt and bread. Closing my eyes and breathing deep, I could also detect a hint of toffee and nuts.

Taste: This beer had a bold bitterness right up front. In the background I found a semi-sweet underlying malt base. The beer felt creamy in my mouth and went down with a dry finish. I'd classify this as having a medium body and a slightly sticky feel. This brew reminded me of an Odell Red or perhaps a big bold Oskar Blues type of beer. The slight above average ABV was noticeable and warranted some slow down and modest drinking. I love the hop flavor of this beer - it seemed very fresh and tasty.

Overall: I was pleasantly surprised on how well I enjoyed this beer. This is the type of red ale that hop lovers would admire. It was big, sticky, resiny and full of hop flavor. The beer drank fairly easy yet I went slowly as to savor it all. I'm really glad I spotted this beer from Marble Brewery. I look forward to trying their IPA next.

Disclosure: I paid full retail price for this beer as a single bottle in a build-your-own six pack from my local store.

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